The 10 Star Certified Values Program is based on Southern Pastures’ guiding farming principles. Established and honed over the years by a team of Southern Pastures management and farming partners keen to take farming forward in a way that cares intergenerationally for the land, the people and the animals.
The 10 Star Certification Program
Why did Southern Pastures create the 10 Star Certified Values Program?
The 10 Star Certified Values Program was created to deliver:
- Premium healthy products to consumers seeking “values for money”.
- A vehicle to put the “values” back into dairy farming. Many farming systems around the world have become about profit and output without due care for the animal, the environment and the people who operate them.
- A certification driven by people with credible farming industry expertise, academic input and research, so it could be based on science, robust theory, and practical knowledge.
- A value driven program based on the Southern Pastures guiding principles.
- A powerful tool to drive innovation and build market share.
- A consistent farming framework to adhere to and provide a measurable benchmark.
- and be relatable by consumers.
- And meet and extend technical, safety, regulatory, societal and market needs.
- And lead industry change by example.
- and wrap all our Principles into One Statement. The GMO project is just one attribute and this certification breaks boundaries to gather and incorporate 10 nicely delivering it in a bow to consumers.
- and give transparency to elicit trust. Transparency is paramount unlike the opaqueness of milk we’ve traded on our transparency. We have absolutely nothing to hide.
- A way to protect company and brand reputation.
There’s a freedom to being completely honest.
We can speak the truth and know that we can walk it every day.
What it means to be ‘independently’ certified
This is the process that determines fact from fiction and creates our reputational kudos. Reputations are earned. By having a completely unbiased third party without any reliance on the outcome is really the only way to build a robust truth. Let’s break it down …
The Country
New Zealand is year-on-year within the top two least corrupt countries in the world. That’s a statement in itself. A democratic country, the New Zealand Government is again held honest by its people and its media organisations.
The Company
Southern Pastures works hard at maintaining its stellar reputation which is covered in greater detail throughout this website.
The Certification Assessment Body
AsureQuality is the Government-owned organisation performing the audits and has no vested interest in either Southern Pastures, or the certification outcome.
AsureQuality is the leading provider of food assurance services to the primary production and food manufacturing sectors for over 100 years. AsureQuality is part of New Zealand’s global reputation for safe, quality food production and transparent assurance systems.
AsureQuality certifies that all aspects stated in the 10 Star Certified Program is scrutinised and holds true to the Scheme before backing it with their own reputation. Not complacent at just this level of certification, AsureQuality’s processes and the broader Program is currently undergoing accreditation by JAS ANZ for an ISO accreditation status.
If you’d like to read more about AsureQuality and their world-leading processes, check out their website.